Homebrew aluminum kayak trailer [build video added on p. 2]

Great info. Thank!

A few more pictures.

I'm thinking that this trailer will be able to go where no trailer has gone before. Maybe I should name it "Enterprise"...

It looks really good.  Is the DIY savings significant?

Have you tried trailering with your AI on it? I finally got to used my yakima two weeks ago and the tongue wasn't as long

as my malone trailer.

It was either too close where it prevented me from opening my rear door or it's not balanced and teters off the rear if I

have it farther back.

It looks really good.  Is the DIY savings significant?

To be honest (and, I'll be honest about this with NCKA, but not with my wife...), I probably didn't save much. I bought the wheels, swing arms, and shocks from Yakima, I had to buy a few tools, and I made a couple of fairly costly mistakes along the way. But, I think if I was just starting now, knowing what I know, I could build one for half price or less of the real deal, which would put it at about the same price as a Trailex trailer. I might just try it to see if it really is possible...

Have you tried trailering with your AI on it? I finally got to used my yakima two weeks ago and the tongue wasn't as long

as my malone trailer.

It was either too close where it prevented me from opening my rear door or it's not balanced and teters off the rear if I

have it farther back.

I hadn't really thought about how it would balance until after I built it. I tried it out this morning, and to improve the balance, i think I'm going to ditch the Hobie bunks, and use PVC pipe instead. I'll need to make the rear part of the bunk removable, so that I can still stand it up on end, but I don't think that'll be too difficult to achieve.

I finally got around to registering this trailer at the DMV today.

I arrived at the Capitola DMV at about 8:30am, pulled into the inspection lane (no other vehicles were waiting), and rang the buzzer. The DMV dude came out, looked at the trailer for 10 seconds or less (he did not even check to see if the lights work!), took my drivers license inside, and in 5-10 minutes came back out and handed me a sheet of paper to take inside. This paper included a VIN number.

I went inside (no line), got a number and it was called almost immediately. I had printed out the paperwork mentioned at this site ahead of time:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/registering-homemade-trailer-in-california.1330076/

(That's forms 343, 4017, 5036, and 256, for those of you keeping score.) However, most of the questions on those forms make no sense for a trailer ("Where did you buy the engine, and is it gas, diesel, or electric?"). I attempted to ask the guy behind the counter how to fill out the irrelevant parts, but he was having none of it--he just gave me new copies of the forms and told me to go fill them out myself. He then started mumbling something about his Swingline stapler (OK, that's not true, but he was babbling incomprehensibly about the cost of my trailer being $100,000 or some such, and I still have no idea what he was trying to say).

Next, I sat down and filled out all of the forms as best I could, leaving lots of things blank. At that point, I had to line up again, there were 5 or 6 people in front of me, and it took 10-15 minutes to get a number. About 5 minutes later, the number was called (thankfully, not by stapler guy). It took the lady behind the counter a while, but she eventually gave me a license plate and the necessary paperwork, for a cost of $157.

I thought they'd give me a metal plate with the VIN number on it, but that didn't happen (and I forgot to ask about it). Maybe that comes later in the mail? In any case, I think I'll scratch the VIN number onto the frame in some obscure locations.

Overall, it was much quicker than I'd expected. If I'd gone to the Los Gatos DMV (where I registered a kit-built trailer a few years ago), I'm sure it would have taken many hours longer. Also, when I registered my kit-built trailer in LG, they made a big deal about sales tax (which, of course, they wanted me to pay them), and they also didn't like that I specified the cost of my labor as $0. I eventually talked them into seeing it my way on both of those issues, but they were borderline obnoxious about it. However, in Capitola, they didn't seem to care about either of these things.

Finally, the inspection is a joke, which makes me wonder how many dangerous trailers there are on the roads of CA.

I thought CHP issued the VIN plates.  I've had a few friends build custom motorcycles or sidecars and that's where they got their VIN plate to rivet on. 

I thought CHP issued the VIN plates.  I've had a few friends build custom motorcycles or sidecars and that's where they got their VIN plate to rivet on.

The guy at that link in my previous post said the DMV gave him a “VIN sticker”, and no mention of CHP (that was from January 2024 in SoCal). He also says you can assign your own VIN and the DMV will use it. If I’d known that, I’d have chosen “0”, just to see if they’d take it…

I thought CHP issued the VIN plates.  I've had a few friends build custom motorcycles or sidecars and that's where they got their VIN plate to rivet on.

The guy at that link in my previous post said the DMV gave him a “VIN sticker”, and no mention of CHP (that was from January 2024 in SoCal). He also says you can assign your own VIN and the DMV will use it. If I’d known that, I’d have chosen “0”, just to see if they’d take it…

I was issued a vin sticker on a harbor freight trailer I registered here in Salinas.

I was issued a vin sticker on a harbor freight trailer I registered here in Salinas.

Thanks for the info. If it doesn’t come in the mail, I’ll stop by the DMV and ask (or maybe I’ll just make my own).

Today, I took my new (to me) 2011 Hobie Adventure to the SC harbor to test out a modified Mirage drive. I used this homebrew trailer to carry my kayak. I parking along the street and wheeled the kayak down to the "A" dock.

When I was done, a guy walked by as I was loading the kayak onto the trailer, and he said he was looking for a trailer just like mine and asked me where I bought it! I thought that was kinda funny, as it looks very homemade to me. Anyways, I told it was homemade, but that the Yakima Rack and Roll trailer is essentially the same.

Finally got around to making a brief video to go with this build...

I was the first viewer of this video, and I thought it was great!  Especially the lessons learned!  Truly an awesome trailer design!

Your answer to what it cost vs. new purchase reminded me of ukulele entertainer Ralph Shaw's tune "How to Build a Ukulele Case". See 3:57 in this video:



You did a great job and the orange fenders are a nice touch!  And it kept you out of more serious trouble while you did it!